Curse Breakers
by Veralidaine
Summary: Yep. A Bill Weasley story. *shrugs* R/R, por favor.
1. The Joys of Being the Eldest.

A/N: Right. I have NO clue as to how to do italics. I tried once, but it didn't work. So, if any of you  
peeps can tell me, do. There's lots of thinking in this, so I put it in between *'s. Sorry if it's hard  
to figure out--I'm trying my best.  
  
Just so ya know, this is another of my famous I-Wrote-The-First-Few-Chapters-Over-Summer-Vacation-And-  
There-Is-No-Plotline-As-Of-Now fics. So it may take a bit for me to figure it all out. Bear with me. I  
needed a break from Fa A Bhialainn Ann, though, *grins evilly* you WILL see a bit of Fi in this. You  
don't have to have read FABA though, so don't worry. *ahem* To the fic, then.  
  
Curse-Breakers  
chapter one: The Joys of Being the Eldest  
by Veralidaine  
  
Bill sighed loudly to himself, casually waving a wand at the laundry basked full of clothes. They flew   
up over his head and into the waiting open suitcase, neatly folding themselves. Usually, he did this   
sort of easy chore himself, but he was in a hurry. After all, Ron didn't graduate every day, and he   
wanted to be there for it. Who knew how long he might have to stick around afterwards? His Mum was known  
for getting the family rooms in the local inn so that they could have a small celebration. She might   
this time.  
  
It still hadn't quite registered in Bill's mind that this was it--last Weasley brother at Hogwarts until   
one of them had children. And Ginny would be graduating next year...Where had the time gone? Of course,   
he was expected to be married by the age of twenty-five, maybe with children; he didn't know. Charlie at  
least had a steady girlfriend, who he was considering a proposal to. And Percy was married to Penelope,   
and had been for about two years. Fred and George had managed to keep their girlfriends from Hogwarts,   
and even though they weren't even close to marriage, they weren't Bill's age.  
  
Bill had no one, really. Granted, there was that secretary at the office that was mooning over him...but  
he disliked her. He had gone out with her once, only to discover that there was an empty void under   
those lovely honey-colored curls. He had nearly died of boredom, and then nearly killed his friend   
Darrel for setting them up.   
  
Bill started, realizing that he'd been standing, staring at the packed and closed suitcase, lost in   
thought, for the past ten minutes. He grabbed the handle and Apparated to the gates topped with winged   
boars--Hogwarts. He strode in quickly, up the stone steps, through the oak front doors he remembered so   
well. The Great Hall was packed with students, audience and graduating, and Dumbledore was just starting  
his speech. Cringing at his lateness--this wasn't like him--he managed to sneak into the area of the   
audience where his parents and many siblings were seated. He shot a grin and a wave at Ginny, across the  
room, and then at a rather pale Ron.  
  
"Where've you been?" Charlie muttered, eyes on their mother, in case she should become angry about their  
whispering.  
  
"Woke up late," Bill muttered back. It wasn't entirely a lie; he HAD woken up late. But he probably   
could have made it anyway, had he not decided to stare at a suitcase for ten minutes, when he should   
have been Apparating.  
  
Charlie gave him a skeptical look. "Usually, you can make it anyway. Must've been really late."  
  
Bill gave him a not-too-serious glare. "Well, I'm here. I've decided to grace everyone with my presence,  
as it seems to mean so much. So let's stop hissing at each other and listen to Dumbledore. That witch   
sitting behind us is getting really ticked."  
  
Charlie half-smiled and turned to listen to Dumbledore. Bill shook his head and crossed his arms,   
looking around the room. Ginny looked pretty sad to be the only Weasley left at Hogwarts. He felt sorry   
for her, but knew she'd be fine. Ron, Bill laughed to see, was now looking slightly green under his many  
freckles. Usually his youngest brother was thrilled to see the end of the school year, but this time it   
involved going up in front of a huge audience and receiving a diploma. Bill watched Harry lean over and   
whisper something to Ron and Hermione, and they all suppressed giggles. Bill shook his head. Some things   
never change...  
  
Suddenly someone else caught his eye. There was a girl--woman, really--sitting on the other side of the   
room, in the other audience section, whispering to a younger girl waiting to graduate. They both giggled  
rather loudly, attracting attention, and a woman who could only be their mother promptly swatted the   
older girl on the top of her head with the graduation program. But this wasn't that unusual. The thing   
that caught Bill's eye was the girls' hair. They both had it cut boyishly short. If the elder hadn't had   
an obviously female figure, he might not have realized at first glance that she was a girl. The younger   
was more obvious, thanks to make-up. Really short hair like that wasn't common among the British   
population of Hogwarts; Bill assumed they were American, or maybe French. He didn't know.  
  
At that moment, applause filled the hall as Dumbledore called the first name from Gryffindor: "Lavender   
Brown!" Bill applauded as well, even though he didn't have a clue who Lavender Brown was. He didn't ever  
know anyone at these graduations but his siblings, and maybe their good friends. After a moment--"Harry   
Potter!" Bill clapped more enthusiastically than for the other Gryffindors that had graduated so far--he  
knew Harry. After quite a wait, as was usual--"Ronald Weasley!"  
  
Bill whooped and Ron's ears turned scarlet. Charlie gave him a reproving grin, and Bill just laughed   
even louder. Then Dumbledore let Ron walk offstage before continuing. "And, our Valedictorian this year   
is Miss Hermione Granger, who graduated with flying colors. Miss Granger?"  
  
Hermione, looking very nervous and yet incredibly giddy, ascended the stage and received her diploma   
amid loud applause. Bill clapped loudly for her, too, as he knew her. Finally the feast commenced and   
Bill was first to find Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Ron grinned as he saw Bill come closer. "Hey!"  
  
Bill grinned back. "Nice going! Hi, Harry! Oh, congrats, Hermione. I didn't even know."  
  
She bit her lip to keep from grinning. "Thank you."  
  
Ron snorted. "Kinda obvious, isn't it, though? She's the only person in this universe who's read   
'Hogwarts, A History', after all."  
  
Hermione made to smack him but he ducked. She gave up, sighed and went back to eating cake. Harry   
grinned and rolled his eyes. "Can you leave the feuding off just for the feast? Please?"  
  
Hermione and Ron's voices answered promptly and at the same time: "No."  
  
Bill laughed. "Good luck, Harry. You're gonna need it."  
  
Just then the younger of the two girls he'd seen earlier plopped herself down next to Hermione. "Well,   
if it's not the valedictorian of the century!"  
  
Hermione smiled. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"  
  
"Nope," the girl said, examining a slice of cake from every angle. Looking like she finally had come to   
a decision, she stuck her fork in the back of the cake and took a bite.   
  
Hermione snorted. "You can't just be normal, can you?"  
  
The girl gave her a skeptical, green-eyed look. "Think about that question and who you just asked it   
of."  
  
Hermione sighed. "You're right. Never mind, then."  
  
The girl grinned and looked up, noticing Bill. "Oh. You'd be Ron's brother, right?"  
  
Bill nodded. "Yep. I'm Bill."  
  
"Ah. I'm Liv. Olivia, really, but if you value your life, you'll call me Liv."  
  
Most definitely American. "I see. Okay, Liv, nice to meet you."  
  
Liv grinned, craning her neck to look up at him. "Yep. You, too. Oh, hey guys--this is my obnoxiously   
perfect older sister, Sarah. Let's all pretend not to see her," she said in an overly-loud voice, and  
then giggled.  
  
Bill turned and came face to face (well, only if he looked down) with the older girl he'd seen with Liv.  
A pale, round face peeked up out of the mop of brown, close-cut hair. Blue eyes almost as intense as her   
sister's green ones stared out under messy bangs and thin eyebrows. "'Kay, Liv. Who's your new   
boyfriend?"  
  
Bill chuckled. "We just met."  
  
The older girl--Sarah, was it?--grinned lopsidedly. "Yeah, well sometimes it happens like that."  
  
Liv stood and shoved Sarah in the shoulder. "Nah. He's Ron's brother." She jerked her thumb behind her   
at Ron, who looked up and smiled a moment before returning to his conversation with Hermione.  
  
Sarah looked Bill up and down, eyes lingering on the ponytail and earring, then glanced at Ron and   
smiled lightly. "I see."  
  
Bill smiled sheepishly. This was uncomfortable. Just then, he was saved (or doomed) by the arrival of   
Percy. He came over, quickly congratulated Harry and Ron, then pompously gave Hermione a long speech   
about how proud she should be. Then he turned to where Bill and Sarah were standing. "Ah, Bill! Glad you  
finally made it!"  
  
*That's right, Perce, flaunt it. You keep track of my punctuality record, after all.* "Yep. Alarm clock   
didn't go off in time."   
  
Percy gave him the same slightly skeptical look Charlie had, then shrugged it off and noticed Sarah.   
Bill could see him stare for a moment at her hair. "Who's this?"  
  
Bill sighed. "I've not been properly introduced myself."  
  
Sarah smiled. "Neither have I, Ron's brother."  
  
Bill could have kicked himself. "Oh, sorry! I'm Bill Weasley, and this is my brother Percy."  
  
Sarah shook hands with both of them. "Sarah Connelly. Jeez, how many of you are there?"  
  
Glancing at Percy, who was getting ready to launch into the whole family tree, Bill said quickly, "Too   
many."  
  
Sarah laughed. "Well, consider yourselves lucky. I've only got one, so there's nothing to distract her."  
  
Percy offered a polite smile and excused himself to find their parents, obviously not impressed with   
Sarah. But before he had gone two feet, Charlie arrived. Bill laughed quietly and ran a hand over his   
eyes. He had never been more aware of having so much family. Charlie grinned and yanked on Bill's   
ponytail, snapping his head back. Brushing stray hair out of his eyes, he turned and gave Charlie a   
look. Charlie grinned back. "So, who's this then?"  
  
Sarah smiled in that slight way. "Should I just paint a banner and hang it over my head? We can have an   
arrow pointing down that says, 'Sarah Connelly Found Here!'"  
  
Charlie grinned. "I take it Perce's been here."  
  
Sarah smiled at him and counted on her fingers. "I've met Ron, him," --she jerked her head at Bill--  
"Percy, and now you, if you'll introduce yourself."  
  
"Oh, yeah!" Charlie said, offering a burnt and callused hand. "Charlie Weasley, at your service."  
  
Bill snorted. *'At your service'? Oh, God, he must have learned that one from Percy.*  
  
Sarah shook Charlie's hand. "Right. Nice to meet ya."  
  
Charlie looked around and offered a sad grin to Bill. "Don't look now, but here comes the double   
terror."  
  
Fred and George bounced over, congratulated Ron and the rest, and then saw Bill. Fred gave him a very   
obvious wink and nudged him in the ribs. George was busy kissing Sarah's hand. Sarah had suppressed   
laughter on her face. Charlie caught Bill's eye, grinned broadly, and went to sit with Ron. Bill rolled   
his eyes. What was it with his family? They were so anxious to see him paired off with someone that   
whenever he was even talking to a girl, they automatically assumed he was trying for a date.  
  
After Fred had bumped George out of the way and kissed Sarah's hand, she laughed. "Well, you can't say   
I've not had an interesting past fifteen minutes. I don't think I've ever seen so many redheads in all   
my life."  
  
Fred nodded. "Yeah. On our planet, red hair is very common."  
  
Bill was trying as hard as he could to refrain from hiding his face in his hands. Or slapping everyone   
in his family. Either would have been adequate.  
  
Sarah grinned. "Yeah, I could've guessed. Well, if you'll excuse me, Weasley clan, I've got to go find   
my parents. They're probably getting their hopes up that I've found a boyfriend."  
  
George brightened. "Hey, anytime you want, just gimme a call!"  
  
Bill groaned inwardly. Sarah smiled lopsidedly again. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. How old are you;   
twenty?"  
  
George grinned. "Nineteen."  
  
Sarah nodded. "Ah. Well, I'm afraid I'm a bit old for you, then. Twenty-three to be exact. Besides, your   
little friend over there doesn't seem too impressed."  
  
Bill and George turned to see Katie Bell glaring at their little group. George gave a nervous laugh and   
promptly excused himself. Fred saw the chaos forming and, grinning, excused himself as well. Sarah, who   
was smiling lightly again, turned to Bill. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Bill." She shook his hand.   
"I'll see you, then."  
  
"Right. Nice meeting you, too." *Dolt! That sounded stupid!*  
  
She smiled and headed off into the crowd. Bill let out a long, deep breath. The embarrassment was over--  
for the time being. No more could his family publicly humiliate him in front of a girl. Well, for today.  
  
He had to take a few steps back as a short, redheaded missile shot itself at him and wrapped her arms   
around his middle-she couldn't quite reach around his neck. He chuckled. "Nice to see you, too, Gin."  
  
She grinned and stood back. "Well, how are you? I've not seen you since you left for Cairo last summer!"  
  
He shrugged. "Ah, well enough."  
  
She nodded. "Still no...?"  
  
Bill dropped his arms to his sides. "What is it with you people? Has it occurred to you that maybe I   
might not end up married? God..."  
  
Ginny smiled sympathetically. "Okay, I'm sorry. Fred and George put me up to it."  
  
Bill shot a glare towards the twins, one of whom was still trying to coax an angry Katie Bell into   
forgiveness. "Gee, thanks a bunch."  
  
Ginny patted his hand. "Trust me, I don't expect anything of you like that. Go at your own pace.   
Whatever works."  
  
Bill raised an eyebrow. "When did you become a psychiatrist?"  
  
Ginny grinned. "Ron needs it occasionally."  
  
Bill nodded. "Ah. I see. Well. I'd best find Mum and Dad."  
  
Ginny nodded. "Right. See you later, then."  
  
Bill stalked to the other side of the room, where his parents were deeply in discussion with Harry's   
godfather, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, who had come for the Graduation. With Lupin was a pretty woman  
with long, wavy red-brown hair, and skin paler than Sarah's (A/N: Heh...Yeah, it's Fi...I'll explain it  
in the note at the end...). Bill's Mum, Molly, turned and saw him, and left the conversation. "Bill,   
dear! How come you were late this morning?"  
  
*I hate being oldest.* "Oh, the alarm clock went off about ten minutes before I was supposed to leave."   
Okay, that was a lie. But at least he wouldn't have to go deeply into an explanation.  
  
"Oh. Well, we were thinking of getting a few rooms at one of the inns down in Hogsmeade for the   
weekend. Most parents are."  
  
*Great. Crowds of just-graduated seventeen-year-olds looking for a good time.* "Sure. I've got clothes   
and stuff packed.  
  
"Oh, good! Well, if you want to head down to the village and get us a few rooms, I'd appreciate it."  
  
"Sure, Mum. See you in a bit." He sighed and walked out of the castle, leaving the chattering crowd   
behind. Off the grounds, onto the road...He looked around for Muggles, then Disapparated. He appeared in   
front of a large, fancy-looking hotel on a hill overlooking the town of Hogsmeade. He strode inside and   
to the front desk.   
  
A pretty woman with chin-length, treacle-colored hair came out from the back room. "What can I do yeh   
for, sir?" she asked in a painfully strong Cockney accent.  
  
"Uhm, gimme a sec' to count." *Charlie and I can share a room, Fred and George, Percy and Ron, Mum and   
Dad, Ginny and Hermione, Harry and Sirius. That makes six rooms...Ergh...I have too much family...* "Six  
rooms, please."  
  
The woman raised an eyebrow, and Bill realized how strange it must look for one man to order six   
rooms. The woman shrugged it off. "Six, eh? Hm. Right, we've got it. Rooms 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, and  
122. Just so yeh know, the pub down the hill, The Three Broomsticks, is having a live band tonight.   
Dancing and such, yeh know. Might be fun, and they've got good food."  
  
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Bill said, turning and leaving. Even if no one wants to join me, I   
might go check out The Three Broomsticks tonight...Might be interesting, anyway.  
  
A/N: I've got the explanation for Fi already planned, but you won't get it here. Just accept it for now,  
'kay? This is stressing me out...  
  
Okay. So. As for Bill's character, I know he's a really minor character, and I know people have   
complained that we shouldn't do minor characters in fics 'cause we don't know enough about them. You   
know, like the various Lucius-Angst fics. Well, this is my interpretation of Bill. He seemed like a   
responsible sort, as he was head boy and so on, but he also seemed like a fun person. And, as always,   
being the oldest sibling makes you a tad insecure. I would know...  
  
And, as always, I am an adament R/H and H/G person. I'll mostly make references to R/H stuff, though.   
ANYWAY, my point is, no, Bill and Hermione don't end up together. Tempting, I know, but Ron and Hermione  
totally belong together. Period. I do think, though, that H/H people will be able to STAND this, to a  
certain EXTENT, anyway.  
  
Righty then. I'm rambling. I won't beg...Nope...I won't...OH, all right: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE,  
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE,  
P L E A S E review. Please? Heck, flame me if you want. Let me know if people actually read this!  
  
~ Veralidaine 


	2. Girls

A/N: Right. This WILL have to do with Curse Breakers, hence the title. I'm just not there yet. Oh, and I  
THINK I have a plot figured out. Let us all hope so. Also, with Bill and the girlfriend/marriage stuff,  
HE doesn't necessarily want to. His mother wants him to, and she's AWFULLY convincing, as I'm sure you  
can imagine. In the wizarding community, you're done with school (as far as I know) at the age of 17, so  
you're basically an adult after that...So marriage would come early, I think. Bill's been graduated for  
eight years and nothing's happened yet--no girlfriend or anything. That's why he's kinda sorta unhappy.  
  
Disclaimer: I own Sarah. That's it.  
  
Curse Breakers  
Chapter Two: Girls  
  
"Soooo booored..."   
  
Bill looked up from The Daily Prophet to see Ron slumped sideways in his chair looking more bored than   
even Bill felt. He smiled. "Who dares invade the privacy of the eldest brothers' cave?"  
  
"Bill, cut the crap. I'm bored stupid."  
  
"I won't respond to that. Well, where're Harry and Hermione?"  
  
"Harry's gone off with Sirius. Hermione is reading, as usual. She doesn't want to do anything right   
now." Bill snorted at that. Ron sighed, shaking his head. "You have a sick mind, Bill."  
  
"It comes from having all of you trying to fix me up with airheads."  
  
"Hey, be careful. One of the girls we tried to fix you up with ended up with Charlie."  
  
"Like I said, you tried to fix me up with airheads. All Catherine can do is giggle at Charlie's jokes.   
And bake cookies." He thought for a moment. "Although, I do admit that they're GOOD cookies."  
  
Ron suppressed a snort of laughter. "You're going to get into trouble one of these days, you know."  
  
Bill shrugged and returned to his newspaper. "Well, I've not yet." He put the paper down after a moment   
when Ron didn't leave. "Say, Ron, if you're that bored, Three Broomsticks is having a live band tonight.   
I'm going to check it out. D'you want to come with me?"  
  
Ron brightened. "Sure. Harry and Sirius are having a night on the town--London, to be specific. Ginny   
and Hermione'll have Sirius' hide if Harry comes back stoned or something. Anyway, can I invite Hermione   
along?"  
  
That made him laugh. The image of wonderful Harry Potter, savior of the magical world and the most   
chivalrous person Bill knew, stoned...*Yeah, right...* "Sure," Bill said, grinning. "Now, get out of my   
room."  
  
***  
  
At about seven-thirty that evening, Bill led Ron and Hermione down the hill to The Three Broomsticks.   
The music was blasting, and the entire pub was packed with freshly graduated Hogwarts students, all   
dancing and laughing and just being downright obnoxious in general.  
  
Ron looked thrilled, but Hermione looked slightly apprehensive. Ron gave her an encouraging grin and   
she shook her head, resigned. He took her wrist and pulled her inside, Bill following at a more adult,   
mature, and slightly bored pace.   
  
They seated themselves at a booth next to the band, which seemed to be predominantly made up of punky-  
looking men and women about Bill's age. They all wore ripped and torn robes of black velvet and had wild  
masses of hair that were multi-colored and with an unwashed appearance. It seemed that the guitarist and  
the lead singer were having a bit of an argument over something.  
  
"You mean you've had two weeks to get down those chords, and you STILL can't figure them out? How stupid  
ARE you?" Green hair flying, she stomped angrily around the stage. "You were supposed to have it  
MEMORIZED by now!"  
  
"'S'not my fault!" the guitarist yelled back. "You're the idiot who signed us up to play so soon!"  
  
"Well, play what you've got, then."  
  
The guitarist, looking sour, strummed out the beginnings of a tune, but faltered just as it was getting   
good, in Bill's opinion. "'At's where I lose it."  
  
"Try A Minor!" a voice Bill recognized shouted from the other side of the restaurant. "A Minor, then C   
Major, then D Major; I think. Try it!"  
  
Bill swiveled in his seat and saw Liv and Sarah sitting in a far booth. Sarah had her hands cupped   
around her mouth to yell the advice. The guitarist in the band strummed out the chords--presumably the   
suggested ones--and grinned. "Thanks, Miss!"  
  
The singer snorted. "We ought to hire HER. Honestly!"  
  
The guitarist said something under his breath and the singer grinned evilly, massaging her knuckles.   
"Right, then. After the performance. Kiss your sorry" --Hermione gasped at the language the woman used--  
"goodbye, Johnson."  
  
Ron held back laugher at this, but Hermione was still staring disapprovingly at the singer "Honestly!   
That was uncalled for!"  
  
Ron snorted. "Ah, get over it. Let's dance!"  
  
"No, Ron-" Hermione's objections were ignored as Ron pulled her out on the floor. Bill laughed loudly.   
Ron reflected every single brother in their family. Poor kid.  
  
Bill started as someone sat down across from him. He looked up and saw Sarah staring at him, smiling in   
her lopsided way. He'd nearly forgotten she was there--though he wasn't sure how that was possible. He   
grinned. "Hello again."  
  
"Yeah, hi. I was hoping you wouldn't mind me joining you, but you're the only one I know, save my   
sister, and she's gone off and found that boyfriend of hers." She rolled her eyes.   
  
"I don't mind at all." He shrugged. "I let my brother and his girlfriend come. He's dragged her off to   
dance. I pity the girl."  
  
Sarah laughed. Bill suddenly felt triumphant. *Ha! Made her laugh!* "Well, that was impressive, with the   
guitar stuff."  
  
Was that blush? "Yeah, well. I'm a musical person. My sister is pretty good, too. I just couldn't help   
it--I know that song."  
  
Bill grinned. "Well, I learned bass guitar, but that's about it." He shrugged. "And I'm not fabulous at   
that, anyway."  
  
Sarah nodded. "I never could play bass. My fingers." She held them up, showing faint calluses. "They go   
through murder on traditional and twelve-strings, as is."  
  
He smiled slightly. "Yeah, I still have calluses. I play occasionally, when I'm alone. It's, uh..."  
  
"Therapeutic?"  
  
"Yeah. But, that's about it. I'm not very musical. No one in my family really is." He twirled his wand   
absently in his fingers. "My sister Ginny who, for the record, you did NOT meet yet, is a dancer, and   
Fred and George both attempted the Tuba, but Mum took it away. Percy likes to think he can sing, but we   
had Dad put a sound barrier on the bathroom so when he sings in the shower the dogs don't go crazy. Ron   
mostly goofs around on my guitar, but he doesn't really know it that well. I tried teaching him, but   
he's too impatient. Charlie's too busy chasing dragons to sing. I've not heard him, but he's got to be   
better than Percy, anyhow."  
  
Sarah nodded, grinning. "Yeah. Liv can sing okay, but she's more of a percussionist. She tried guitar,   
and piano, and clarinet, and flute, and...well, you get the idea. She's better at keeping a beat than   
the stuff I do. So we work together."  
  
Bill nodded. "So...I don't think I ever saw you at Hogwarts..."  
  
SHe shook her head, sending little whisps of brown hair into her face. "No, I went to the Salem Witches  
Academy. Liv would have, too, but when she got the chance to come to England for school, she jumped at  
it. So, I came with her, to keep her in line. I'm not too sure what happens now that she's graduated. I  
suppose we'll share a flat or something until she kicks me out." She half-smiled again. "Knowing her, it  
won't be long."  
  
Bill smirked at this. The idea of sharing a flat with, oh, Ron, for example, was positively nightmarish.  
The music was overpowering. It was very fast and furious and absolutely perfect for dancing. Bill  
looked around the dance floor and laughed.   
  
Ron had Hermione's wrists in his hands, and they were going in a spinning circle, Ron whooping and   
Hermione torn between laughter and shrieking. Bill turned as Sarah laughed, watching them. She smiled.   
"They're cute." She paused for a moment, then: "D'you know how to dance?"  
  
"Uh...sort of...but not really. Like I said, bass guitar is my big claim to fame."  
  
She laughed. "C'mon. I dunno how, either, but we're bound to do better than your little brother."  
  
Grinning at this, he offered her a hand and pulled her up next to him. She grinned--for the first time   
in a true, un-lopsided way--and grabbed his wrists, swinging him out onto the dance floor. They spun and   
twirled, occasionally pausing to watch Ron and Hermione. Finally, after what seemed an awfully short   
time to Bill, they collapsed back in their seats, exhausted and laughing. Sarah grinned at him. "That   
was fun!"  
  
Bill laughed. "I agree!" He looked down at his watch. "Oh, sh-sorry. Oh darn. There." *What am I on   
about?* "It's nearly eleven o'clock! Ron!"  
  
Ron and Hermione twirled over and Bill stood up. "Guys, it's, like, eleven fifty-five! Mum said be back   
by ten-thirty!"  
  
Ron gulped and Hermione looked, unbelieving, at her watch. Ron looked at Bill. "Oops."  
  
"Yeah, 'oops'. Go on and get your butts back up to the hotel; I'll only be a sec'."  
  
"Right." Ron pulled Hermione out of the pub.   
  
Bill turned to Sarah, who was smiling in the old, lopsided way. "Well, I'll see you later, then, Sarah."  
  
"Yeah." She grinned. "Maybe we'll run into each other again sometime."  
  
"Yeah. Uhm...Maybe we can run into each other sometime on purpose. If you'd like, I mean. You know..."   
*Aah! It's that bizzarre music, I swear! Now she's going to say no, and--*  
  
"Definitely."  
  
"What?" Bill looked up, not sure he'd heard her correctly.  
  
"I said, 'definitely.' Does that work for you?"  
  
"Yeah!" Bill cringed inwardly at how thrilled he sounded. He dropped it. "Yeah, that'd be great." He   
paused, staring at the floor. Then he looked up quickly. "Well, bye, then."  
  
"Right. See you later. Send me an owl."  
  
"Sure." He waved and left the pub, starting up the hill. When he was sure no one was listening, he   
pumped a fist in the air. "YES!"  
  
***  
  
"...and you didn't bring them back until midnight, Bill!"  
  
"Aw, Mum, they were having a blast dancing! They were doing really well, and it's not like they got   
stoned or anything. They didn't have anything to eat or drink at all--they just fluttered around the   
dance floor, giggling." Bill made flowery motions in the air with his hands to illustrate his point.  
  
His mother sighed. "But, Bill..."  
  
"Hey." He raised his hands up defensively. "Ron's my little brother-I won't let anything happen to   
him. We were a half-hour late, I know. It was irresponsible and I should have told you we'd be late. But  
they were having a wonderful time and I wanted to let them continue."  
  
She crossed her arms defiantly. He sighed. Okay, time for the heavy weaponry: "I met this girl..."  
  
His mother's eyebrows snapped up. "Really?"  
  
"Yes. I met her at the graduation feast. She's really nice and we got into a conversation. We even   
danced. We were all having such a good time that I lost track of how late it was. I'm sorry."  
  
She sighed. "Well...All right, Bill. You're off the hook this time."  
  
He grinned and bent to kiss her cheek. "Thanks, Mum. G'night."  
  
She sighed again. "Good night, Bill."  
  
A/N: Yep. The end. No cliffhangers. Yes, this is going somewhere. Specifically, Egypt. Be patient with  
me, please. It took a lot of work to get THIS part done and posted...  
  
R&R, por favor...  
  
~ Veralidaine 


	3. Work

A/N: 'Kay. Due to popular (heh...) demand, here's parte tres. Yep. Not as totally pointless as the   
others, but still fairly pointless. Okay--REALLY pointless. Basically, he goes to Egypt. Yep. And feels  
guilty about leaving during a family event.  
  
I do believe I've got a plotline, but I'm not quite sure yet. As I said, this was one of my famous one-  
part wonders that I created out of boredom this past summer. So gimme time, 'kay? Kay.   
  
Oh, and once again, I still have NO CLUE as to how to do italics, so you're going to have to endure   
thoughts being between *'s again. Sorry 'bout that. It's all I can do, unless one of you kind reviewers  
will tell me how...(hint! hint!)  
  
Curse Breakers  
Chapter Three:   
by Veralidaine  
  
Vaguely Bill heard a knock on the door and opened one eye sleepily. Charlie's voice came through,  
sounding somewhat muffled: "Oi, Bill? You awake?"  
  
Bill rolled over, pulling the thick blankets up over his head. "No," he mumbled incoherently into his   
pillow.  
  
"Bill?" Another tap on the door.  
  
He propped himself up on his elbows. "Yeah, I'm up." He promptly collapsed back onto his pillows,  
fighting the urge to go to sleep again.  
  
"Good. You've got an owl. I think it's from Egypt."  
  
"Oh, fun. Gimme a sec' to wake up." He sat up, bunching the blankets up around him and pushing the long  
red mess that was his hair out of his face. It was WAY too early for him to be awake. What time was it,  
anyway? Had to be earlier than seven...The clock on the wall indicated that in reality it was nearly   
noon. Bill sighed. Why was he always so tired?  
  
*I did have a good time last night, though,* he thought vaguely, pulling on a ragged pair of jeans and  
shirt. Pulling his hair back into a ponytail, he stifled a yawn and tried to shake off the groggy   
feeling that always accompanies sleeping late. *Wonder if I'll see her again?*  
  
The lobby was full of bored-looking teenagers, a few slumped in the squashy chairs, and a few more   
leaning against the walls, looking as if they could doze off at any moment. Bill headed to the front   
desk, where the same woman was still standing, looking slightly annoyed at having her beautifully  
decorated lobby invaded by rowdy seventeen-year-olds. "What can I do yeh fo', sir?"  
  
"Uhm..." What was it again? It was too early... "Oh, yeah...I have an owl?"  
  
"Name?"  
  
"Bill Weasley."  
  
"There's a message for a William Weasley--'s that you?"  
  
Bill cringed. "Yes," he muttered, making a mental note to strangle Diana when he got to Egypt.   
  
Diana was Bill's partner in curse-breaking. Short, copper-haired, and cynical, she was a force to be   
reckoned with. Plus, she was American--specifically a New Yorker. So she had a serious attitude. And   
constantly amused herself by mocking him about his so-called "fancy" first name, and his "prissy"   
accent.  
  
Taking Diana's letter with him over to one of the few unoccupied chairs, he sat down, slinging one long  
leg over the armrest.  
  
  
***(this is separates the letter, 'kay? Just 'til I learn to do italics...)  
Dearest William,  
  
How art thee?   
  
Our dear chieftess insists that you make an appearance. After all, you've been gone for a good three   
days--a definite no-no. You know how her highness gets when you go on family vacations...  
***  
  
  
Yes, Bill knew. Isis Abran was the head of their "department." She basically gave them the maps to the  
tombs and bossed them around a lot.  
  
  
***  
You're supposed to come back sometime before tomorrow afternoon. If you wake up in time to read this   
letter, anyway. Knowing you, you won't. Hey, I tried...  
  
So come back, okay? Come on, like you actually WANT to spend time with your family? You aren't fooling  
anyone...Even YOU aren't THAT sappy...  
  
Fare thee well,  
  
~Di  
***  
  
  
Bill groaned. *Egypt? Now? But Ron just graduated...* And somewhere in the back of his mind he resented  
her statement that he wouldn't want to spend time with his family...They were all right, really...  
  
"What's that?"  
  
Bill looked up to see Ginny bending over his shoulder, looking curious. "Oh, no, d'you have to go back?  
But it's Ron's graduation! We were going to have a party tonight! You can't leave..."  
  
Well now he felt MUCH better... "Ginny, I can't help it--you know that. It's Abran. She's awful. She   
doesn't get it. I'll see if I can't stay one more night, but I dunno..."  
  
Ginny heaved a great sigh, nodded, and just stood silently. When she didn't leave after a moment, Bill  
raised an eyebrow. "Oh, come on..."  
  
"I never get to see you! Why can't you come home for a bit? Why d'you have to go to work?"  
  
*Oh, no...The little sister guilt-trip...* "Ginny, it's how I help support the family, and--"  
  
"But it's not fair! Charlie doesn't have to leave!"  
  
"Charlie doesn't have a boss," Bill reminded her. "He chases dragons." Ginny pouted, but said nothing.   
Bill sighed again. "Look, maybe I can stay. I'll have to check, though."  
  
Ginny crossed her skinny little arms and sighed again. "Fine. Mum won't be happy, you know..."  
  
Bill shrugged, refraining from saying, "Mum's never happy about anything when it comes to my life, is  
she?" even though it was true. From his earring to the fact that he didn't work in the ministry, Molly  
had a slight disapproval for everything he did. Granted, he'd been Head Boy at school, and earned a  
decent living, and she knew that was good...But still...If he could have been more like his FATHER...  
  
He stood from his chair, stuffing the letter in his pocket, and borrowed a quill and parchment from the  
front desk. Scribbling a quick note back to Diana, he asked permission to stay one more night, thinking  
that, even if Abran said no, he'd do it anyway.  
  
********************************************************************************************************  
  
Well, it didn't quite work that way.  
  
That evening found him walking down the narrow streets of Wizarding Cairo, thinking hostile thoughts. He   
was missing the graduation party. He'd left his family again, after a mere THREE DAYS with them. As much  
as they drove him nuts, they WERE his family, and he DID want to see them occasionally, and for more   
than just a few days.  
  
Coming up on the snowy-white marble building, he stopped in his tracks at the foot of the steps. Why  
should he? Why shouldn't he merely take a portkey back to England, stick around with his family for a  
few days, and maybe get to KNOW Ginny, his sister, who was so young he never even had spent more than  
the summers with her, back when he'd been at school. She'd been a baby then, too young to have a real   
personality. He'd graduated when she was six, and begun work immediately afterwards. It had been nearly  
a decade, and he STILL didn't know what her favorite color was...  
  
He sighed. His family needed the money, with or without Charlie, Percy, and his Dad working. He helped  
support his family with this job. So, with one last depressed sigh, he climbed the stairs to the front  
doors, and was bowed in by a goblin, even this late in the evening. He offered a half-smile to the   
creature, who acknowledged it with a curt nod.   
  
He stalked through the empty lobby, trying to keep the barrage of insults he was planning on setting  
loose on Abran under control. He didn't need to be SACKED after all this...  
  
Stepping into the office, he immediately swallowed all comments he'd had earlier. Abran was sitting at  
her desk, looking as sour as ever, while Diana was standing nearby talking to--  
  
"Sarah?"  
  
  
A/N: Yeah, this was totally and completely pointless. I know. Please don't flame me for it. I am totally  
aware that this was complete crapola. This is fluffiness, just to establish Bill's character. *cringes*  
I know it sucks. No, I'm not fishing for compliments, Robyn, it does suck. Utterly.  
  
BTW~ I heard from Star Gazer that someone nominated Fa A Bhialainn Ann for best series! Woo-hoo! Though,  
I don't think it's as good as A Year To Remember. But, whoever nominated it, please let me know who you  
are so I can faithfully read and review your fics (nicely, of course) forever.  
  
Sorry. Done babbling now. If you absolutely hated it, don't review and wait for the next part, which   
will not be NEARLY as crappy as this. 'Kay?  
  
Buh-bye.  
  
~Veralidaine 


	4. Is there anything she CAN'T do?

A/N: 'Kay, peeps. Here 'tis. Part four. I THINK this is going somewhere...(Keyword: THINK)  
  
I'm using 's to separate thoughts. I've been told it makes words italics. It may or may not. Knowing   
my luck, it won't. Hey, I tried...  
  
Curse Breakers  
Chapter 4: Is There Anything She CAN'T Do? (BTW~ that last part was too short and stupid to deserve a   
title...And it DID suck...I don't care WHAT you say...)  
by Veralidaine  
  
  
  
Sarah looked up and smiled lightly, only revealing her surprise with a characteristically arched   
eyebrow. "Bill? I didn't know you worked here."  
  
Bill shook his head. "Well, yeah, but...Why are...How...?"  
  
"He's real articulate, didya notice?" Diana muttered, causing Sarah to smile lopsidedly.  
  
Bill glared. "No one asked you, Di." She stuck out her tongue in retaliation.  
  
Sarah held a hand up, getting their attention. "No need to fight over it--I'm working here."  
  
"You are?" Bill asked, sounding much more amazed than he'd intended.  
  
She nodded. "Yep. I figured that since my little sister's graduated and planning on sharing a flat   
with that one guy--whatsisname...Oh, yeah, Terry Boot--I ought to move out and stop playing mother   
to her."  
  
"So you just inadvertently decided to take a job in CAIRO?"  
  
"Well, yeah, actually." She ran her fingers through her rather messy mop of hair. "Never been to Africa  
before...I thought it'd be interesting."  
  
"Plus she knows how to read hieroglyphs." Diana had drawn her wand and was twirling it idly in her small  
hands. She gave Bill an I-Know-Something-You-Don't-Know sort of look, which, as planned, annoyed him.  
  
Bill, more in an attempt to ignore Diana than because he doubted it, turned to Sarah. "You read--"  
  
"Hieroglyphs. Yep. SWA offered classes in ancient wizardry, and since I took classes on the Egyptian   
wizards in eighth year, I had to learn how to read glyphs. Didn't you?"  
  
"Hogwarts only goes to seventh year..." Bill muttered.  
  
"Oh, that's right..." Sarah shrugged. "Well..."  
  
"Ahem..."   
  
Everyone turned to face Abran, who wore an annoyed facial expression, drumming her fingers on her almost  
painfully organized desk. Even the newspaper, bearing the headline DARK LORD SPOTTED IN GREECE, was   
folded perfectly and sat at the side of her desk. "If the introductions have ceased...?"  
  
Bill opened his mouth to say something sarcastic, but Di shot him a look and he closed it, crossing his  
arms defiantly. "Yes, your highness."  
  
She shot him a glare but didn't respond. "Your first assignment is a tomb in the Valley of the Kings  
that the Muggles have recently overlooked. If you can get into it, get the treasure, and get out without  
invoking any curses, we would appreciate it."  
  
Of course, growing an extra head WOULD be a bit of a problem for them to deal with, wouldn't it? "'Kay  
then. We'll get moving tomorrow morning."  
  
"No, actually..." Abran checked her wristwatch. "It's only six. Why don't you get a move on now, so you  
won't have to deal with all the Muggle tourists?"  
  
Bill's jaw dropped. "But I just got here! I JUST Apparated! I mean, can't we at least have TONIGHT off?"  
  
"No."  
  
Bill crossed his arms again, holding back strings of naughty language. "FINE," he snapped. "Fine..."  
  
Sarah grabbed his sleeve and pulled him out of the office. "Now, Bill...Calm down. The woman is a slave-  
driver. We know. She knows. Let's go to the tomb. If it's too tough, we'll come back tomorrow. Cool it."  
  
He sighed. "Right, right...Let's go."  
  
He, Sarah, and Diana raised their wands and Apparated together, reappearing with a slight POP at the   
site. Hidden on the side of the cliff looming above them in the gathering darkness was a large hole,   
most likely the entrance. Bill sighed. WHY did these ancient Egyptians always feel compelled to hide   
dead people in cliffs? Of course, he supposed, it was to keep out people like him, who stole the various  
pharoahs' treasure. Still, if they could just make them a LITTLE CLOSER TO THE GROUND...  
  
He glanced involuntarily at Sarah. She was staring up at the cliffside, her face paler than usual, and  
a light sweat breaking out on her forehead. She turned away from the cliff, obviously fighting a fit of  
shivers, and gave him a rather unconvincing half-smile. "Er...This wasn't in the job application..."  
  
"What; cliffs?"  
  
"Yeah." She ran a hand through her hair again, nervously. "I of course knew that they had tombs in   
cliffsides, but they look a lot smaller in the textbooks..."  
  
"Hey." Diana was back. "You afraid of heights or something?"  
  
"No," Sarah said quickly, shaking her head. "No...It's just that I've never done this sort of thing   
before..."  
  
"Oh." Diane paused, then: "Well, we need you, if you can. It was really tough without someone well-  
versed in glyphs. One time, we didn't know what it meant to have pictures of that cat-woman all over  
the walls. Turns out it was S...Uh...Se...--"  
  
"Sekhmet."  
  
"--Yeah, that. We didn't know that. Turns out she's the Goddess of Destruction. And she happened to be  
guarding that particular tomb. I was falling down wells and knocking stuff over for weeks after that.  
And that's NOTHING to the stuff that happened to Bill--he went in first." Diane grinned impishly, making  
it difficult for Bill not to picture her as a Cornish Pixy.  
  
"What happened to you?" Sarah asked curiously.  
  
"I'd rather not talk about it," Bill said quickly, trying not to remember the various times in the month  
after breaking into that tomb that he'd been mugged, gotten food-poisoning, and just generally been  
miserable.  
  
"Well, enough chit-chat," Diana chirped. "'S getting dark out. Let's get started, shall we?"  
  
Sarah swallowed roughly. "Uhm...'Kay..."  
  
"Seriously, are you afraid of heights?" Diana asked, conjuring a rope.  
  
"No!"  
  
"A'right, a'right...Just asking..." She shrugged. "We would Apparate, but the magic surrounding the   
tombs is too strong--you could end up splinched."  
  
Sarah cringed, but nodded. "Right. Okay, you lead."  
  
Bill stopped staring at Sarah and went into professional mode. Sizing up the cliff, he saw that the best  
way of getting to the tomb was about twenty feet to the left of it--it wasn't so steep there, so it   
would be an easier climb. Then there was a narrow edge along the cliff that could be used as a path to  
the tomb entrance. Having decided this, he strode forward and conjured a rope. It sprang from the tip of  
his wand and lodged itself under a large boulder, about fifty feet above them.  
  
He gripped the rope tightly and started climbing, pulling himself up with practiced ease. He could hear  
Diana grunting as she pulled her skinny self up the rope behind him, but he couldn't quite hear anything  
from Sarah, and was afraid to look down for fear of losing his hold. Reaching the top after a good   
twenty minutes of climbing, he pulled himself up onto the ledge, panting and dusting his hands off.  
  
About a minute later, Diana pulled herself up onto the ledge, panting rapidly, and leaned back against   
the rocks next to him. "'Fraid the new recruit's having a bit of trouble getting up here."  
  
Bill looked down. Sure enough, there was Sarah, hanging uneasily about ten feet below. She looked up and  
gave a rather nervous laugh. "Uh, I'm coming."  
  
Diana rased an eyebrow. "You need some help?"  
  
"Nope," Sarah said cheerfully. "I'm good, thanks..."  
  
"Well, the girl can read glyphs," Diana muttered to Bill, "and she can speak Egyptian--"  
  
"--and play various instruments--"  
  
"--and do magic, of course, but she can't climb."  
  
Bill nodded. "That'd be my guess. I was starting to wonder if there was anything she couldn't do."  
  
After about fifteen minutes, Sarah's arms appeared over the ledge and Bill helped her up. Once standing,  
she looked very shaken. Bill leaned her back against the cliff. "You okay?"  
  
She nodded quickly again, back pressed against the rock. "Oh, yes. Fine."  
  
He shrugged. "Right. Let's go, then."  
  
He took the lead, making his slow way along the narrow path to the tomb. He stopped after a moment and  
looked behind him to be sure the other two were following. Diana was picking her way nimbly along the  
rock, practically leaping from spot to spot as if this were all some sort of game. Sarah, on the other   
hand, had one palm pressed up against the wall, and was laboriously managing each step. Diana caught up  
with Bill. "What's the holdup?"  
  
"You go on ahead--it's just up there, about ten feet that way."  
  
"'Kay. You go get her to move."  
  
As Diana skipped on ahead to the tomb, Bill yelled as an afterthought, "And don't go into the tomb yet!  
Wait for us!"  
  
"I know," she called back, still picking her way along the path.  
  
Bill turned back to Sarah, who had finally given up and backed up against the cliff, eyes closed. "You  
okay?"  
  
Her eyes snapped open. "Of course I'm--"  
  
"Stop faking it, Sarah."  
  
There was that ever-so-rare un-lopsided smile. "You win. I'm scared to death."  
  
"You don't look it," he commented, carefully climbing around her so he could follow behind her.  
  
"Heh...I've mastered the whole emotional thing. Took years of practice, but there you have it..."  
  
"What d'you mean?"  
  
She shrugged. "Can we discuss it sometime when we're at a lower altitude?"  
  
"Sure. Now, get away from the cliff and start walking."  
  
"I--uh--okay." She very slowly stepped away from the side and started cautiously picking her way along.  
She reached a small gap in the rock and froze. "Uh, Bill, uh, I can't really...That is...There's a hole  
here..."  
  
"It's only about eight inches across--step over it."  
  
"But I..."  
  
He grabbed her hand in his. "Here. If you slip, you won't go falling down the cliffside, okay? I've got  
you. Now get moving."  
  
She nodded mutely. Bill was somewhat surprised to see her in this state. She was perhaps the most self-  
confident person he'd met, and certainly gave the impression of fearlessness, but up here, fifty or so  
feet from solid ground, she was a totally different person. I suppose fear does that to people...  
  
He started as rocks under her feet shifted. She yelped slightly and squeezed his hand so tight it almost  
hurt. Somehow, he didn't mind though...She regained her footing and sighed deeply, giving him a somewhat  
relieved smile. "That was...close..."  
  
He nodded. "You're alright. Just keep moving and--"  
  
She'd turned around again and the rock under her foot had broken loose. Bill's arm was pulled sharply as  
her weight pulled on it and she went over the side of the cliff. He reached down over the ledge and   
grabbed her other hand in his, pulling her up. (A/N: Hey, I could have stopped here--a cliffhanger!   
Literally!) After a moment's panicked struggle, he lifted her up next to him, both of them panting and  
Sarah shaking violently.   
  
He still had her hand in his, so he pulled her up into a standing position next to him. "Can you keep   
going?" he asked, wondering if he was being insensitive.  
  
She nodded firmly, however, even though she looked near being ill. He followed behind her, still holding  
her hand in case of some other accident. None occurred, though, and soon they were climbing up into the   
entrance where a rather impatient-looking Diana had plopped down on a nearby rock. "Took you long   
enough," she muttered.  
  
"I f-fell," Sarah stammered. Bill glanced at her curiously. He'd never heard her stammer before. This  
was new. What was he supposed to do? Put an arm around her? Not that he'd mind...  
  
"Well," Diana said, leaping to her feet. "Let's get cracking. It's nearly seven-thirty and we've not   
even read the inscriptions on the entrance."  
  
Sarah, who apparently had recovered and was in her element now that she was on somewhat solid ground,   
strode over to the entrance and started examining the hieroglyphs surrounding the stone door. Lighting  
her wand, she leaned in close to the rock wall and Bill could see that she took this seriously. Her face  
turned thoughtful as she ran her fingers over the stone carvings, muttering to herself. After a moment,   
she turned, clapping her hands together and looking at them both cheerfully--much different from the   
frightened girl sliding about on the rocks outside.  
  
"Right. This is guarded by the sorceress Rahotep--"  
  
"God bless you," Diana said.  
  
"--who was considered very dangerous and powerful and so on. So we don't want to mess with her. She put  
a number of curses on this place, but it doesn't list them. We'll just have to be extrememly careful."  
  
"'Kay. So open it." Diana pulled out her wand, and Bill did the same.  
  
Sarah went over the hieroglyphs once more and nodded to herself. Then she turned to the stone doorway.  
  
"Apophis Ba."  
  
The door slid open with a slight grating sound, and Diana boldly led the way into the chamber. Before   
they stepped through the door, Bill stopped Sarah. "What does 'Apophis Ba' mean?"  
  
"'Demon Soul,'" Sarah replied, before turning and entering the tomb.  
  
  
  
A/N: I actually looked up the words for that, BTW. So, I think this is a bit better than last time,   
right? Please, please, please review, 'kay?  
  
~Veralidaine 


	5. Curiosity Killed the...Cat?

A/N: Ack! Why did I post part four so late at night? I got, like four reviews. Ugh. And it was a good   
chapter, too...Well, part five, then. Here 'tis. Thoughts between *'s. WHY can't I use italics? WHY?  
  
Also, to my Fa A Bhialainn Ann fans ~ I am suffering from SEVERE writers' block on that, so I will try  
as hard as is humanly possible to get the next part posted, but I'm afraid it may be a bit. I've started  
on it, but it's all bizzarrely and annoyingly fluffy...Ugh...I'm trying, though...  
  
Curse Breakers  
Chapter Five: Curiosity Killed The...Cat?  
by Veralidaine  
  
Almost instantly all of the warm summer air that had surrounded Bill outside the cave left as he stepped  
through the stone doorway. The tomb was very, very dark, and very, very dank as well. Even in Egypt, in  
the summer, in the middle of the DESERT, this tomb still had echoing dripping noises, and the painted   
walls and stone floor were quite damp and somewhat slimy to the touch.  
  
Sarah, though, seemed positively fascinated. She ran her fingers over the slimy walls, reading glyphs by  
the light of her wand, muttering under her breath and looking ecstatic. Bill noticed, rather  
unintentionally, that her face lit up brighter than the wand when she finally understood something she'd  
been working on. She'd grin to herself, repeat whatever it was once under her breath, and move on to the  
next set of pictures.  
  
"So," Diana said softly, voice echoing nonetheless off of the stone walls of the narrow passage. "How do  
we get some light in here?"  
  
"Well, this is just the entrance, right?" Bill muttered, wiping a drip off of his face, and wondering  
vaguely where all of the water was coming from. "The main chamber can't be far...We'll figure out a way  
to light it when we get there."  
  
Diana nodded, continuing cautiously down the passage, her wand lit and held before her, lighting a small   
area around her. Bill turned to Sarah. "Anything interesting in the glyphs?"  
  
She shook her head. "It's amazing...History of the pharoah buried here...He was part of one of the   
goddess's cults, but I can't make out which one. The water's smeared it." She raised her wand to the  
glyph she'd been talking about. He could make out a few squiggly lines in the paint, but even the   
carvings in the stone around it had been worn away by water.  
  
"Wonder why there's so much water in here?" Bill muttered, pulling her away from the glyphs and towards  
the bouncing light ahead that was Sarah.  
  
"The only time I ever heard of water in one of the tombs was when they put it in jars for the pharoahs'  
afterlife. But this is the middle of Egypt in August. And the cave's dripping wet."  
  
Bill shrugged. "Dunno..."  
  
Diana was standing at another stone door, moving her wand along the edges and looking curious. "'Nother  
door we have to get through. This guy was persistent."  
  
Sarah dutifully stepped forward and started reading hieroglyphs. "Uhm...Okay..." she said after a moment  
of quiet reading. "Uhm...Awai, Kesi Senef..."  
  
"And that means?" Diana asked this time, as the door slid open, echoing much louder than any of them had   
expected.  
  
"Er...'Robbers, bow down to blood.' Just roughly, though. Gimme a sec'..."  
  
"Lovely," Diana muttered, raising her eyebrows. "These ancient Egyptians were happy, cheery people,   
weren't they?"  
  
Bill snorted. "Yeah, really..."  
  
"Well," Diana said, turning swiftly towards the blackness of the room beyond the door, her feet making  
grating sounds on the wet stone floor. "Shall we, then?"  
  
"Sure," Bill muttered, starting to follow her.  
  
"Gawd, it SMELLS in here..." Diana said loudly. "I wonder what--"  
  
"WAIT!!!" Sarah's voice echoed frantically throughout the cave from behind them.   
  
Bill turned abruptly. "What--?"  
  
But a second later he knew. Diana shrieked, a very un-Diana-ish thing to do, and leapt back through the  
door as if persued by something large with fangs. Which, Bill remembered in the back of his mind, she  
might well have been. Instead, about four relatively large snakes slithered out behind her, hissing in a   
nasty sort of manner.  
  
Everyone backed up immediately. Diana, panting, had backed up against the slimy walls, looking utterly  
annoyed. "WHY do snakes live here? It's been sealed off for thousands of years!"  
  
"They can get through pretty narrow openings, you know," Bill muttered, watching as one of the snakes  
lifted half of itself up and a hood opened around its head. *Wonderful. Cobras* He pulled out his wand  
and started zapping the ones closest to him with a freezing charm.  
  
"No, no, no..." Sarah muttered. "This particular pharoah was a member of Uto's cult."  
  
There was a pause. "And that explains...?" Diana muttered, eyes on the snakes Bill hadn't yet taken care  
of.  
  
Sarah sighed exasperatedly, as if this was common knowledge to everyone and they were overlooking a very  
obvious fact. "Uto was the goddess pictured as a snake. She was the symbol of the red crown of lower  
Egypt, and was generally nice enough. However...There was a certain sorceresses who lived after her  
time that certainly was not, even if she took that name. If this pharoah lived during her time, then   
there might be an issue with her curses protecting his tomb."  
  
Bill froze the last of the snakes and pushed his hair, which had started to come out of its ponytail,   
out of his face. "Right. Well. We'll just have to watch it, then..."  
  
They turned back to the main tomb, and Sarah walked inside first, using her wand to light the way. "Ugh,  
what DIED in here?"  
  
"And do we really want to know," Diana muttered. "How do we light this place?"  
  
"Well," Sarah said from somewhere in the pitch-blackness to their right. "Usually they had some manner  
of tricks to do that, like mirrors set up to reflect light off of each other around the room, but if   
this one was Uto's work, then I suppose it's magic." There was a pause, then, "OW!"  
  
"What?" Bill said, somewhat nervously.  
  
"Heh...I've found a mirror. Just a sec'..." There was a moment of silence, then some brief muttering on  
Sarah's part, and suddenly a ball of fire appeared, eerily illuminating her face. It moved slowly over--  
Bill supposed it was at the tip of Sarah's wand--and appeared to become doubled. A mirror.  
  
Setting the fireball in front of it, she muttered again and it became brighter, and Sarah grabbed the   
mirror's sides and turned it. The beam of light reflected onto another mirror, which suddenly lit up the  
room dimly, with the reflected light beams of hundreds of round mirrors, placed strategically around the  
chamber. And the chamber itself was certainly something to look at.  
  
Gold items of every sort glittered dimly around the walls, while huge marble statues of Anubis and   
Bahstet, as well as Uto, surrounded the doorways and guarded various tables sporting jewel-encrusted  
crowns, rings, necklaces, chest-plates, and hairpieces. However, this wasn't what caught Bill's   
attention. The center of the room was lower than the rest; it stair-stepped down to a sort of pit in the  
floor, about five feet below. At the center was a writhing mass of snakes, at least a thousand--perhaps  
more. And jutting out from the ever-moving tangle of venomous reptiles was something that looked   
remarkably and disturbingly like a human arm. Or at least, what was left of one.  
  
"Holy Sh--"  
  
"Shut it, Diana." Bill moved very carefully around the edge of the pit, wondering how on earth none of  
them had fallen into it in the darkness.  
  
Sarah had gone totally white and was backed up against the wall, looking ill. "I--felt my foot go over  
the edge, but before I fell I managed to get back up. I thought it was an uneven spot in the floor."  
  
Bill nodded. "Let's just...Grab some of the treasure and get out. We don't want any of those buggers to  
climb up and make a snack of us."  
  
Diana nodded and started very cautiously picking up gold, checking before putting it in her bag that  
it didn't happen to be concealing any venomous snakes. Sarah had been drawn to a rather huge book with  
black binding. It was at least a foot thick, and the cover was emblazoned with huge gold hieroglyphic  
designs.  
  
"Is it worth anything?" Bill asked. "We should leave it, otherwise..."  
  
"Oh, it is," Sarah said, eyes shining. For the moment she appeared to have forgotten that they were so  
far from the ground and in an ancient tomb filled with venomous snakes and a corpse. "This is an ancient  
spellbook. It's worth a fortune. It belongs in a museum, though."  
  
"Right," Bill muttered. "We'll take it with us, then. It'll be a job to carry down, but if we're careful  
we can do it."  
  
Diana joined them, still glancing occasionally at the snakes. "I've gotten the jewelry. There are a few  
statues that will take a lot of energy to use a levitation charm on, but we really ought to. I've never  
seen so much gold in my life."  
  
"We're also taking this spellbook," Bill said, nodding towards Sarah, who had managed to lift the book   
into her arms, though it appeared to be quite a job. "Sarah says it's worth quite a bit."  
  
Diana nodded. "Right. Go get some statues and we'll start carrying stuff out."  
  
Bill set to work. He managed to finally drag the best of the statues over to the doorway by conjuring a  
thick rope harness for them, and Diana returned from the front of the cave to help him along the rest   
of the way. As the cave entrance came into view, he saw that it was now totally dark outside, and that   
even the moon was absent. Sarah, who had her wand lit again, showed them how she'd lowered the book   
down the cliffside with a rope she'd conjured. While Diana did the same with the bags of jewelry, Sarah  
shuffled over to where Bill was still dragging the statues and grabbed a hold as well.  
  
"Thanks," Bill grunted, pulling on the ropes.  
  
"Sure," she panted back. "How're we going to get these down the cliffside?"  
  
Bill sighed. "Well, it takes a lot of energy around here to get this sort of thing down by levitation,   
and the rope will break if we try to lower it that way, so I'm not quite sure."  
  
"But we could get it down to the bottom by levitation, we'd just be drained afterwards?"  
  
"Well, yes," Bill said, stopping his pulling for a moment. "We wouldn't be able to Apparate back tonight  
--we'd be too magically drained. I suppose we could try it and see if we had enough energy left  
afterwards to Apparate, but I doubt it...We could get splinched or something..."  
  
"Well, would we have enough energy to set up those tents Diana keeps in her backpack?" Sarah asked,  
smiling. "We could stay the night and Apparate with all this stuff tomorrow morning."  
  
Bill shrugged. "I dunno...We could always just go for tonight and come back tomorrow for this stuff."  
  
"But then someone could take it!" Sarah said. "And we shouldn't put it back in the tomb...It gives me a  
funny feeling." She shrugged. "Why not camp out, Bill?"  
  
"Like someone couldn't just take the statues anyway while we're sleeping?" Bill asked.  
  
"Couldn't we drag them into the tents? I mean, wizard tents are bigger than they seem, Bill." She smiled  
lopsidedly again. "Come on...Camping can be fun..."  
  
Bill was about to suggest that this job wasn't necessarily SUPPOSED to be fun, but it was a logical  
enough solution, and the idea of NOT going back to see Abran again was enticing, so he nodded. "Oh,   
all right."  
  
She grinned and grabbed the rope again. "Good. Now let's levitate this sucker down to the ground, shall  
we?"  
  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
  
One hectic, the three of them were seated at the foot of the cliff, around a roaring fire, next to a  
rather lopsided tent. Diana was toasting a marshmallow and occasionally turning and looking behind her--  
Bill supposed she was still jumpy after the snakes.  
  
Sarah, on the other hand, was completely engrossed in the spellbook. She was silently moving her finger  
along the writings, muttering to herself, looking just as fascinated as she had in the tomb. After about  
an hour, Diana stood up, stretching her wiry arms above her head and letting out a loud yawn. "Think I'm  
gonna get some sleep, guys. Levitating those stupid statues down here tired me out. Not to mention the  
whole business with the snakes." She removed the now blackened marshmallow from her stick and crammed it  
in her mouth.  
  
"Yeah, well...We'll make sure no cobras visit you in the night, okay?" Bill said sarcastically. Diana  
shot him a sarcastic glare and ducked under the tent flap. After a few minutes of shuffling noises from  
inside, everything was still again, save for the occasional popping noises issuing from the fire. Bill  
turned to Sarah, who was still preoccupied with the spellbook. "So are you going to talk to me at all,   
or are you just far too busy?"  
  
She looked up at him, seemingly just noticing him. "Oh, sorry! I was just..." She glanced back down at   
the pages. Scooting over next to him, she pointed at one section. "Look."  
  
He followed her finger to a picture of a green snake, crudely drawn, but somehow realistic, just the  
same. "Is that the sorceress you were talking about?"  
  
She nodded, eyes reflecting the fire. "Uto. I think this was her spellbook."  
  
"Well then we really shouldn't be messing with it, should we?" Bill muttered. "You said she wasn't the  
nicest evil sorceress around here at the time."  
  
Sarah shrugged. "She can't come back and claim it, Bill. She's dead. Even witches and wizards die, you  
know."   
  
"Well, yes, but if she was REALLY evil, like You-Know-Who, she might have immortality or something."  
  
"Well she's not been spotted for nearly four thousand years, now, has she?" Sarah muttered. "No, she  
doesn't have immortality. Even if they could have figured out the proper spells for that sort of thing  
back in that time period, they wouldn't have wanted it here. They believed in the afterlife, so being  
immortal was a waste of time."  
  
He shrugged. "Yeah, but be careful, just the same."  
  
She nodded. "I'm not THAT stupid, Bill." She flipped through a few pages. "Look...Here's something..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Her history..." Sarah murmured, once again sitting just so the fire reflected eerily in her eyes. "It's  
the entire story of her life. Recorded right here. D'you know how valuable that is?"  
  
"Well, what's it say?"  
  
She looked through it. "Emm...She was born to a magic family, and was familiar with the royalty. She   
lived near the palace. Uh...She was the pharoah's official sorceress, and did spells and stuff for him.  
Then, she was put to death for something...It doesn't say..." She looked up. "That's just a brief  
summary, of course. I think they recorded it in the back of this just for the records. They must have  
thought that she was powerful, if they kept her spellbook in the pharoah's tomb even after she was dead.  
I s'pose they thought it would help protect him or something. Still...Doesn't make much sense, does it?"  
  
"No..." Bill muttered. "What's this?"  
  
There was a small carving on the inside cover of several pictures, one of which was the snake. Sarah  
bent over it, brow furrowed. "Keded en neb rehew nedj kem seref Uto. Sedjem o seki."  
  
The fire visibly flickered out. What had been a roaring, pleasant fire not ten seconds earlier was now  
reduced to embers, and a chilly wind ruffled their hair. "What did you just say?" Bill muttered.  
  
Sarah swallowed roughly. "'Slaughter to all men who save black-blooded Uto. Obey or perish.'"  
  
"What do you suppose just happened?"  
  
Sarah shivered visibly, pulling her jacket closed around her. "I'm not sure, but I don't like it."  
  
"Well, what d'you think that meant, though? Do you think you raised her or something?"  
  
She shrugged. "I doubt it. There'd be more of a bang, don't you think?"  
  
"I suppose..."  
  
And, about a mile away, a perfectly-organized desk was suddenly overturned, contents violently strewn   
about the room, and Isis Abran screamed loudly.  
  
  
A/N: Muahahahaha! A cliffhanger!  
  
I looked up the words for this, too. Aren't I the clever one. I do my research...  
  
So, I was on www.harrypotterfans.net, and they had some chat transcripts, and I found a lot of cool  
stuff on it, even if it does totally contradict my other story...Oh, well...J. K. Rowling DID say all   
this, so it's not just rumors...  
  
First off, Hermione's birthday is September 19th. Lily's maiden name was Evans, and she was...A   
Gryffindor. *sigh* Oh, well, I was speculating...James was a chaser on the Gryffindor team, NOT a seeker  
like we all assumed. Harry's middle name is James (good going Hermione L. Granger--she knew that). Also,  
Dumbledore is 150 years old, while McGonagall is 70. Wizards have a longer life expectancy, apparently.  
  
Sorry, but I just found all this interesting. Oh, and J. K. says she likes Monty Python! Yay! Me, too!  
  
'Kay, I'm done rambling now. Please review! Thanks!  
  
~Veralidaine  



	6. Well...So now what?

Disclaimer: Everything important belongs to J.K. Rowling the Brilliant. Sarah belongs to me, Diana belongs to me, Abran belongs to me, and Sarah's guitar is also mine. Like I said, everything important belongs to J.K.

A/N: Okay, guys, I'm so sorry this took so long. I was going to just let this die (seriously, it needed to be taken out back and shot), but I've gotten so many reviews for the bloody thing (not to mention some rather insistent e-mails) that I can't very well do that, can I? Also, this part happens to be particularly fluffy, so sorry 'bout that…

Please review at the end, or really, I'll let this thing die. I mean, I've already got two other series to work on, as is. I just can't make myself finish one first…

****

### Curse Breakers

Part 6 

by Veralidaine

Bill steadied himself, trying to stay out of the way of the Egyptian ministry wizards as they scurried about the completely sacked office, searching for clues as to where Abran had disappeared to. Sarah was standing, red-eyed from lack of sleep, in the doorway. Sighing and closing her eyes, she leaned back against the doorframe, taking deep breaths. Bill nervously brushed a few strands of hair out of his face, watching as one wizard approached him, dark eyes flitting behind him to Sarah. He was rather young and looked extremely proud of himself for even being on the scene. Despite the fact that he had a very thick accent, he reminded Bill somewhat of Percy. "Mr. Weasley? We were wondering if you have any idea what could have happened here. Do you have any theories?" 

Of course he had theories. But he wasn't about to get Sarah into trouble before he even knew what had really happened. Wildly hoping that the whole business with the fire had merely been a freakish trick of the wind, he shook his head. "Not as of now. If anything comes up, I'll let you know."

The ministry wizard nodded and turned importantly back to his colleagues, apparently satisfied with that much. Bill sighed loudly, turning to leave. Sarah, who was still leaning against the doorframe, arched an eyebrow in an inquisitive manner. He shot her a look and mouthed, "Outside."

As the heat of the midday Egyptian sun washed over them, Sarah shielded her eyes and pursed her lips, looking at him. "Why didn't you tell them?"

"Because," Bill replied calmly, "They would have thrown you into jail for it. They're different down here than they are in England. Or America."

She sighed lightly, bringing her hand down from her forehead and squinting at him, the messy mop hair forming a sort of gold-brown halo around her head. "Well?"

"Well what?"

She snorted. "Our boss has mysteriously disappeared, leaving no trace of what happened to her or who took her. Coincidentally, that same evening, we read from an ancient Egyptian spellbook that put the fire out like in one of those cheesy horror movies. And all you can say is 'well what?'"

He shrugged. He'd been going over the facts in his head. Yes, it was probable that something had occurred due to Sarah reading from that stupid old book. On the other hand, Abran had certainly annoyed enough people to the point of gaining several enemies that could quite possibly be out for revenge. Granted, Bill thought, none of them would be stupid enough to kidnap or murder her, but it was possible...One never did know...

Sarah, impatient with his silence, scuffed her boot on the sandy street and turned away towards a nearby cafe. After standing for a moment longer, thinking, Bill followed her inside. It was noisy, both from the various people talking in numerous languages, and from the many fans going, trying and failing to keep the place at a comfortable temperature. Normally, there would have been a cooling charm cast on the place, but due to lack of adequate security in Egypt, it was too great a risk that a Muggle might wander in—especially a tourist. So even the magical suffered northern Africa's heat.

He stood at the counter next to her and glanced sideways. She sighed again (she was doing that quite a bit today) and asked in slow, even English for "just a glass of water, please." After a moment of attempting to act this out, the barkeep seemed to get the general idea and brought back a rather dusty-looking glass filled with what had to have been from the animal food-trough outside. Sarah offered a quick smile as a thank-you, and the barkeep disappeared to tend to his other customers.

"Well…" Sarah sighed, picking up and glancing at her glass of water, which lacked the usual transparency for some reason. She made a face and set the glass down, looking at him. "Now what?"

Bill shrugged. They'd turned in their treasure, and the book, that morning. The gold would be shipped off to museums, and the Spellbook was even going to be on loan to the British Wizarding Museum of History. "I s'pose we could take a break from all of this, you know? Go home?"

"England, you mean?"

"Sure, why not? I mean, we've just pulled in a good three months' worth of treasure, our boss has gone missing, the ministry's going crackers, and I just want to go home." He shrugged again, levering himself up from his leaned position against the bar. "I mean, I know it's kind of insensitive, but I'm tired. All this stress with You-Know-Who, and Abran, and my family..."

Sarah sighed. "Bill...Shouldn't we...You know...Stick around, and try to help?"

"We'll only get in the way," he replied, leaning on the counter again. "They don't want us trying to help."

The cafe doors opened again, and Diana stalked in, muttering to herself. She spotted Bill (well, it's not easy to miss red hair among crowds of dark) and joined the two of them, leaning up against the bar and raising her eyebrows. "Soooo...What d'you reckon?"

Bill shrugged again. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. It seemed to him that finally he'd just gotten tired of staying in Egypt. It just didn't hold the same fascination for him, at least right now. He couldn't do it anymore...He would be glad to help if the authorities wanted him to, but otherwise...He just wanted to go home. "Well…Home's looking really good now, even though I'm going to have to deal with my family…" He sighed. "Well, Ginny did want me to stay longer…"

Diana slid herself up onto the counter to sit, swinging her legs, and looked at them both. "Ya know, I've not been to Jolly Old England in ages. You get to have all the fun. I vote we go say hi to your Mummy."

"Bad pun," Sarah said flatly. "_Very _bad pun, Di. Not even worthy of Shakespeare." Both Bill and Diana looked extremely confused, and Sarah sighed. "Never mind…Muggle humor." She glanced at them again and sighed. "Ugh…"

*

If he'd been tired before, Bill was exhausted now. For some reason, he'd been completely unable to sleep ever since that bloody book had been opened and Abran had disappeared. It was quite miserable for him, really, as he desperately wanted the energy to be able to Apparate. He was a bit too wary of getting splinched to risk it, and so it was going to be one long bus ride to Ottery St. Catchpole.

Bill leaned back against the alley wall, waiting patiently for Diana and Sarah's portkey to come in. He'd taken the first one about twenty minutes earlier, as for some reason Diana had wanted to talk to Sarah for a moment, and had hastily rushed him over to the small group of ministry officials and their dirty old sock or a portkey.

There was a slight _pop _as their group arrived. Most of the other people wandered vaguely off, probably to go to sleep, as it was nearly one o'clock in the morning, locally. Diana shifted her duffel bag to her left shoulder and looked up at Bill, shrugging to keep the strap from scratching her neck. "I'm staying with Sarah at her flat. You gonna try Apparating?"

Bill shrugged. "I might," he said shortly, trailing off as he was interrupted most inconveniently by a large yawn.

"And shall I pick up whatever body part you leave here and give it to you when we next see each other?" Diana said dryly. "Either take the bus or come stay with us. Sarah doesn't mind, right?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Nah, I've got a few extra rooms. Liv owled me to tell me she was going to be out of town anyway. Some silly graduation trip they took. At any rate…"

Bill thought for a moment. What would Charlie say—"You'll splinch yourself. Don't be an idiot. Go on, stay with them." Fred? Well, who needed Fred's advice, of all people? "Small apartment, two girls, all night, alone? You're actually ASKING?" Percy—"Take the bus—do you have any idea how bad that would look if you stayed?" Bill smiled to himself. He didn't even want to think about what his mother would say. 

He shrugged, thinking, _why not?_ and looked at Sarah. "You've got an extra room?"

Sarah glanced up at him, kneeling down next to her backpack and rooting around in its contents. "Yep. Diana can have Liv's room, you can have the extra room, and I'll sleep back in my own lovely bed tonight. No more sandy sheets for me."

Bill nodded appreciatively. Well, he'd deal with his family's reactions later. Or maybe he'd just conveniently forget to mention the whole thing.

*

Several hours later, he lay on the guest bed, staring up at the ceiling and listening to the rain outside. He'd not been away from home long enough to forget about rain, like he usually did—he'd only been away for three days, really. But most of the time, it was always so odd coming home from the desert and having it rain all night. It was really quite comforting, staying in Fred and George's room and having the rain patter on the roof just above. They didn't get much rain in Egypt, obviously.

But then, this wasn't Fred and George's room. Even so, it was actually rather pleasant, if a bit girly. White walls, lace curtains, and a simple cotton duvet (blue, not white, surprisingly). Bill hadn't even changed into nightclothes. He just lay there, on top of the covers, staring at the ceiling in his rather scruffy jeans and tee shirt. There was a very soft knock on the door, and Bill sat up on one elbow, surprised. "Come in?"

The door cracked open and Sarah shuffled in, hair sticking up quite comically. "You're not asleep, then?"

He sighed and flopped back down on his back. "Nope."

She glanced at his jeans. "Doncha have pajamas?"

"Yep."

She arched an eyebrow. "Have we lost the capability of speaking in words more than one syllable long?"

"Nope."

She sat down cross-legged on the spindly little rocking chair next to the nightstand, pulling the bottoms of her gray pajama pants over her bare ankles. "I couldn't sleep, either."

He shrugged. "I've not slept since…" he paused to think. "Uhm…I think since I was in England last time, actually. Huh. Yeah, that'd be about right, because that night we found the book, and I've not slept since."

She shook her head. "I know. It's weird…Can't sleep. Don't get me wrong, I'm exhausted. But I keep thinking about it. I mean, I'm sure it was what I read."

"You don't know that."

She gave him a sarcastic look. "Sure. You're still convinced it was the wind, aren't you?"

Bill shrugged. "I dunno, to be truthful. I honestly have no idea. I'm just not going to worry about it as of now. They'll find her. They always find who they're looking for. If they have to, they'll call in the British Ministry officials. It'll all settle down, so don't start accusing yourself just yet. I mean," he laughed, "let's just say that you did release whatsername. What's she going to do? She's dead. I mean, right now the only evil sorcerer we need to worry about is You-Know-Who. And he's not shown himself for ages."

Sarah ducked her head, casting her face in shadow, and seemingly deep in thought. She looked back up at him, all traces of worry gone from her face, and offered a light smile. "Hope you're right."

"I am," Bill said with finality, and yawned. "At this rate, I'll never Apparate again. I'm going to attempt to sleep now, and it'd probably be a good idea for you to do the same. You look tired."

She shrugged. "I guess."

"G'night, Sarah."

"Night." She grabbed his hand and gave it a quick squeeze before quietly closing the door behind her and padding into her bedroom. Bill was disturbed at the tingly feeling it gave him, and quickly rolled over onto his side, trying for sleep again in a vain attempt to distract himself. For heaven's sake—he had enough plaguing his mind without having to deal with girls!

A/N: Heehee…Fluffy, I know, but I had to post something on this, or I fear the requests would never cease. I kinda know where this is going, but it may be a bit, as I'm currently trying (keyword being "trying") to work on the next bit of _Lost_, which is being a really difficult little bugger. 

Okay, well, review—it's my birthday! Seriously, it is! And all I want are some nice reviews… (though, chocolates would be good, too…)


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